Women's Basketball Headline

The
Florida women’s basketball team takes on top-ranked and overall No. 1-seed
Baylor in the NCAA Second Round on Tuesday at the Stroh Center beginning at
7:05 p.m. ET and will be televised live on ESPN2.

Florida is 0-9 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams, with
the last time the Gators squaring off against a No. 1-ranked team was in the
2009 NCAA Second Round, when Florida lost at overall-No. 1 seed Connecticut in
a game played at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. The Huskies went on to beat
the Gators 87-59 and win the NCAA title.

Florida
is 2-6 all-time in NCAA Second Round action, with both wins coming when the
Gators hosted the tournament games. In 1998 Florida was the No. 3 seed and
defeated Virginia Tech, 89-57 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second
consecutive season. The 1997 Gator club became the first to reach the NCAA
Sweet 16, earning a 92-78 win against a Tina Thompson-led Southern Cal team
that had to face Florida’s pair of DeLisha Milton and Murriel Page,
a current Gator assistant coach who stole the show with a 35 point, 16-rebound
performance.

Baylor
leads the all-time series against Florida, 3-1. The Bears, which have won the
last three games against the Gators, won the 91-76 decision on March 22, 2004
in the NCAA Second Round played in Albuquerque, N.M. Two of the four meetings
between Florida and Baylor were part of a national tournament. The Gators
defeated the Bears 70-58 in Waco on Nov. 16, 1998 the second round of the
Preseason WNIT.

“Baylor
is an aggressive team,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “They are well
coached. I think one of the things I like about their team so much is how
Coach Mulkey makes it very simple. She puts her players in position for them to
succeed and they play their roles out very well within the structure (Mulkey)
provides them.”

The
winner of the Florida-Baylor second-round game meets the winner of the game
between No. 4 seeded Georgia Tech and No. 5 seeded Georgetown on Sat., March 24
in Des Moines, Iowa.

Florida
advanced t the NCAA second round with a hard-fought 70-65 victory against
eighth-seeded and No. 16/18 ranked Ohio State on Sunday. Baylor dominated UC
Santa Barbara from the opening tip in its 81-40 victory and improved to 35-0.

The
Bears are outscoring opponents by 27.7 points per game this year and are aiming
to become the first 40-win national championship team in NCAA Division I
women’s basketball history. Baylor is led by national player of the year
candidate Brittney Griner (6-8, junior), who is averaging 23.1 points, 9.2
rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game, while shooting 61.4 percent from the floor
and 80 percent from the free throw line. She’s joined by a talented backcourt
of Odyssy Sims and Destiny Williams, who average 14.6 and 10.0 points per game,
respectively. Williams is tied with Griner with 9.2 rebounds per game, while
Sims collects 3.1 steals per game and connects on 53-of-135 three-pointers
(39.3 percent).

The
Gators (20-12) counter with 6-0 junior forward Jennifer George (Orlando,
Fla.), who led Florida with 16 points in the NCAA first round win against Ohio
State. George averages 13.1
points and 8.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 53.9 percent from the floor.

Senior
Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.), who collected a career-high eight rebounds
to lead the Gators against the Buckeyes on the boards, tallied her 1,400th
career point during the win. Jones contributes 11.5 points, in addition to 3.8
rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals, while hitting 67-of-195 treys (34.4%).
During her three-year tenure at UF, Jones has drained 194 three-pointers, the
fourth most in a career (third is 212 by Sha Brooks, 2005-09), as well as 291
overall.

Senior
point guard Lanita Bartley (Jacksonville, Fla.), who had 15 points
against Ohio State, is Florida’s third-leading scorer (9.3 ppg) along with 5.0
rebounds (third most) and leads the club in assists (3.2 apg) and steals (1.9
pg).

Florida
has played 55 games over the last three seasons with outcomes decided by 10
points or less, including 17 this season.

As
a team, Florida is holding opponents to 60.3 points per game - the
second-fewest in a season in the 38-year history of the program. The 1983-84
squad held its foes to 59.1 points per game. Opponents are shooting 38.2
percent from the floor, the lowest since the 2000-01 Gators limited foes to a
36.9 percent clip. Florida sports a +5.5 rebound margin, its best since the
2000-01 team held a +7.9 margin.

Baylor
is averaging 78.9 points per game, while hitting 49.3 percent of its shots from
the floor and holds a +12.4 rebounding margin.

Florida
is 3-8 this year against Associated Press nationally-ranked opponents, and 3-9
versus teams ranked in the ESPN-USA Today Coaches Poll at tip-time (Vanderbilt
was receiving votes in the AP poll, but No. 24 in Coaches Poll). The Gators
most recently posted a 70-65 win against No. 16/18 Ohio State in the NCAA First
Round. Florida has collected 47 upset wins against a higher-ranked opponent,
with 27 of those coming when the Gators were unranked.